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Estonia: Young people and temporary employment in Europe

Observatory: EMCC

Topic:

Published on: 08 December 2013

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Country:

Estonia

Author:

Pirjo Turk, Liina Osila

Institution:

Disclaimer: This information is made available as a service to the public but has not been edited by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions. The content is the responsibility of the authors.

The share of temporary employees among young persons is rather low in Estonia. The use of temporary contracts is also quite low, but has slightly increased during recent years. The reason for the increase is most probably relies the recession, as temporary contracts enabled employers to minimise their financial risks in an unstable economic environment. The regulation regarding temporary or permanent employment relationship, as well as the regulation concerning the access to social benefits, is general in Estonia and does not include special regulations for young persons. Overall, the use of temporary employment among different age groups has not been thoroughly studied in Estonia.

Introduction

Youth unemployment has been a persistent problem in many parts of Europe for many years. Over the past 3–4 years, however, since the onset of the financial crisis and the economic recession which followed, it has become an even greater and more widespread problem and one which, given the on-going depressed state of the European economies, is likely to remain for some time to come. The latest monthly figures (for September 2012) show the unemployment rate of those aged 15-24 averaging 22.8% in the EU – just over 1 percentage point higher than at the time a year earlier. In Spain, the figure was over 54% and in Greece, 57%, in both cases, much higher than a year earlier. In the worst affected countries, therefore, as in most Member States, there is very little sign of any easing of the youth unemployment problem. There are, however, a few exceptions. In Germany, in particular, youth unemployment has declined since the global recession hit in 2009 and now stands at only 8%, well below the level it was before the recession. In Norway too, the rate is only 8%, though this is slightly above the level in 2007 before the crisis. Germany, apart, there are two other countries in the EU with youth unemployment below 10% according to the latest monthly figures - the Netherlands (9.4%) and Austria (9.9%). As in Norway, in both cases, the rate is above the pre-crisis level.

Moreover, young people who do manage to find jobs often have to settle for a temporary one, defined as one with a fixed-term contract of employment. According to the European Labour Force Survey (LFS), in 2011, just under 43% of employees under 25 were in temporary jobs in the EU and well over half in Germany (56%), France (55%), Portugal, (57%), Sweden (57%), Spain (63%), Poland (66%) and Slovenia (75%). (In Norway, the figure was much lower than in most EU countries, at around 24%.) While around 40% of the young people concerned on average were in temporary jobs because they had a fixed-term training contract and another 9% were on probationary contracts, a substantial proportion (37% on average) were in temporary jobs because they were unable to find permanent ones. In the Czech Republic, Cyprus and Portugal, this figure was over 75% and in Spain and Slovakia, well over 80%.

Among young people making the transition from education or initial vocational training into employment, the proportion who takes up temporary rather than permanent jobs is much higher than for the age group as a whole. In 2011, 57% of those aged 15-24 in employment who were in education the previous year were in temporary jobs in the EU and 86-87% in Spain, Portugal and Poland. For those moving from unemployment into employment, the proportion who take up temporary jobs is even higher on average in the EU (61%) as well as in Spain (90%).

The fact that a relatively large proportion of young people in employment are in temporary jobs may be a reason why they have been hit disproportionately hard by the crisis. In the economic downturn in 2009, many of the people who lost their jobs first were on fixed-term contracts since not renewing these contracts represented the easiest way for employers to reduce their work forces. In 2009, therefore, there was some decline across Europe in the proportion of young people in work employed in temporary jobs (see the Tables attached to the questionnaire). Since then, there has been some tendency for the proportion to increase again, in part perhaps because employers are reluctant to take on people on permanent - or standard – contracts given the uncertainty about future economic prospects.

Given the above, it is understandable that there is growing public interest, and some concern, over the nature of the jobs that young people are taking up. This concern is mirrored at EU-level where a ‘flexicurity’ approach to labour market policy has increasingly been advocated, which, in practice, means that while flexibility is an important objective, it needs to be accompanied by protection of workers’ interests if it is not to lead to a growth of precarious employment in low quality jobs. Accordingly, there is a need to obtain a better understanding of the terms and conditions applying to temporary jobs, the extent to which they are a stepping stone to permanent jobs and a working career in line with a person’s qualifications and capabilities, the access to social protection which comes with them and the measures in place to encourage employers to convert them into more stable jobs. These issues form the focus of the present study.

Definition of temporary jobs

The interest in the study is in all young people employed in temporary jobs of whatever kind, in the sense of all jobs that they are not subject to a standard contract of employment which is normally one of indeterminate length, or at least one for which no specific length is specified. Such temporary jobs can be for a period of training (i.e. traineeships or apprenticeships) or probation, intended to enable employers to check the suitability or aptitude of people for the jobs concerned. They might also be to replace someone on maternity leave or on a training programme or they might relate to a specific project of fixed duration.

All such jobs and others which are of fixed duration should be covered, whether they are part-time or full-time and irrespective of whether they are specifically for young people (such as perhaps in the case of traineeships or apprenticeships) or for people of all ages which young people happen to be doing. In some cases, it should be noted, it is relevant to include, in addition, to temporary employees, the ‘bogus’ self-employed – i.e. those people who have self-employment status but who are contracted to work for a single employer and who are effectively similar to employees who have a fixed-term contract of employment. (The cases in question relate to instances where employers use self-employment contracts as a means of employing young people without bearing the costs, and obligations, of a standard contract of employment.)

Outline of study

The study is divided in three sections. The first is concerned with the main types of job in which young people who are employed under temporary contracts work and the reasons why employers choose to use temporary contracts of employment instead of standard ones when they take on young people, as well as with the link, if any, with labour market conditions (i.e. with the extent to which the crisis has led to an increase in temporary employment). The starting point is the data summarised above, derived from the LFS, which indicate the relative number of young people employed on temporary contracts in the different European countries and the way that this has changed over the recent past (these data, as noted, are set out in the tables attached to the questionnaire). Correspondents are asked to check these data against any national data on temporary employment and to indicate where these show a different picture from the LFS data, perhaps because a different definition is adopted of temporary jobs.

Any description or commentary on national statistics should, however, remain brief, since the main task of the first section, is to review and summarise relevant sources of information on the different kinds of temporary contract under which young people are employed in each of the countries, the circumstances and areas (the types of job and the sectors of activity) in which they tend to be used and the main reasons why employers adopt them.

The second section is concerned with the access to social benefits which temporary jobs provide, distinguishing between the various kinds of benefit, and with the extent to which entitlement to benefit differs for young people employed in temporary jobs from that for those employed under standard contracts of employment. It should be emphasised that the concern is not only with the formal regulations which apply, which in many if not most countries do not make a formal distinction between temporary jobs and others, but also with de facto entitlement which stems from the nature of temporary employment. In particular, young people in temporary jobs may have difficulty in complying with the need to have a continuous period in employment, or a continuous record of paying social contributions, in order to be eligible for unemployment benefit.

The third section is concerned with the measures in place to regulate the use of temporary contracts of employment (such as specifying the number of times they can be renewed), with the attitudes of government and the social partners towards their use and with the incentives which exist to encourage the wider use of standard contracts of employment and the conversion of temporary jobs into permanent ones. A particular point of interest is the extent to which regulations and attitudes as regards temporary jobs have changed over the crisis period as the number of jobs available for young people to take up has diminished and as expanding these has become a policy priority.

A final point to note is that while it is customary to define youth employment (and unemployment) in terms of those aged 15-24, it is also the case that many of those aged 25-29 are also employed in temporary jobs, as indicated in the attached tables. Correspondents are therefore asked to extend the coverage of the study to this age group where relevant. It is recognised that in some countries the statistics available may not relate precisely to the age groups specified here, in which case correspondents should report on the age groups nearest to these.

Questionnaire

1. Importance of temporary employment for young people

1.1. Do the figures shown in the attached tables (on the number of temporary employed as a % of total employees based on Eurostat LFS data) give a reliable indication of the scale of temporary employment among the young in your country and the way that it has changed over recent years? Are there young people employed in temporary jobs who do not show up in the Eurostat figures? Are there national statistics which show a different picture from the Eurostat data? If so, please indicate what they show and give the source of the data.

According to the Eurostat LFS data in 2011, there were 13.8% of young people aged 15-24, who worked as temporary employees. However Eurostat does not provide statistics for the years 2004, 2007 and 2009 in the age group 15-24. According to the Statistics Estonia’s (Statistikaamet) Labour Force Survey, there were 12.1% of people aged 15-24 in 2011, who worked as temporary employees. Based on the same data source, the share of temporary employees in mentioned age group has grown along the recession. In 2007, there were 5% people aged 15-24, who worked temporary. In 2010 the percentage of temporary employees had already doubled to 10%.

Among the age group 25-29 the share of temporary employees was 4.2% in 2011. Compared to 2007 the share of temporary employees aged 25-29 has grown – from 1.8% in 2007 to 4.2% in 2011. Overall the share of temporary workers in age group 25-29 is one of the lowest compared to the EU27 average, which was 21.4% in 2011.

The Estonian Employment Contracts Act states, that although it is presumed that employment contracts are made for an unspecific period, a fixed-term employment contract may be made for up to five years. However, it has also been stated that the use of fixed-term employment contracts should be justified by reasons arising from the characteristics of the work, e.g. a temporary increase in work volume or performance.

As different forms of contracts for temporary jobs are included in the Eurostat LFS methodology all young people employed in temporary jobs are covered in the Eurostat figures.

1.2. Is there any evidence that other forms of employment are used as a substitute for temporary contracts, such as bogus self-employment where young people are contracted to provide services to a single work provider in a continuous manner so acting de facto as employees? If so, please give the source of the evidence and indicate the scale of the phenomenon in terms of the number of people concerned.

In Estonia, there are five different types of contracts for provision of services, stipulated by the Law of Obligations Act: authorisation agreement, contract for services, brokerage contract, agency contract and contract of commission. Any person and also self-employed persons’ can enter into these types of contracts and these contracts can be either temporary or permanent. Contracts for services are often used instead of employment contract, to hide the employment relationship between the parties and thereby to escape the obligation to provide certain social guarantees. In case of the contracts for provision of services, the amenities and benefits established by the Employment Contracts Act are not eligible. For example, when using any type of contract for provision of services, the employee does not have a right for vacation or holiday pay. Also the working conditions (i.e. working time) regulated by the Employment Contracts Act and the obligation to pay national minimum wage, are not eligible in case of contract for provision of services.

The employment contracts obey the provisions established on Employment Contracts Act. Unfortunately there are no surveys or statistics that could indicate how much these type of contracts are used in practice.

According to Estonian Tax and Customs Board (EMTA), self-employed persons often use different types of contracts for the provision of services to avoid greater tax obligations and employers use these contracts to avoid the obligation to provide certain social guarantees. EMTA has focused its’ attention on determining the cases where these types of contracts are used instead of regular employment contracts with self-employed persons. In those cases, they will treat the income of the self-employed persons as income from employment and not as business income and the taxation is arranged accordingly. Based on the information of EMTA there have been situations, where employers force their employees to become formally self-employed while continuing to work for the same employer (‘bogus self-employment’). Unfortunately there is no data available on the number of people concerned with bogus self-employment. The types of contracts for provision of services are sometimes used to hide economically dependent employment. According to the recent Population and Housing Census 2011, 3.8% of the persons aged 15 and older are self-employed in Estonia. However, there is no evidence if young people are more often in these kinds of working relations.

The new Employment Contract Act, which was put into force in July 2009 (EE0907029I), made the usage of temporary work more difficult. The provisions establishing the fixed-term work in the new law is analogous to the European Union directive for the fixed-term work (1999/70/EC). The mentioned directive stipulates measures, which enable to avoid the use of temporary work without a purpose.

1.3. Please list (and give summary details, i.e. purpose and duration of the contract) the most common contract types or contractual arrangements under which young people are employed on a temporary basis (such as for traineeships, apprenticeships, probationary periods, replacement of workers on leave or projects of a fixed duration). What is the relative importance of each type of contract or arrangement in terms of the number of young people employed under them?

Unfortunately there is no statistics or studies, which would list the most common contract types or contractual arrangements under which young people are employed on a temporary basis. See also 1.1 above.

1.4. Please indicate the main reasons for the emergence and development of the different types of temporary contract which you have listed in response to question 1.3. To what extent are they linked to particular conditions in the labour market or employment protection legislation/regulation in your country? What is the main attraction of such contracts to employers? What effect has the crisis had on the use of such contracts?

Unfortunately there is no statistics about the different types of contracts used in Estonia. But in general, the usage of fixed-term contracts has extended during recent years. Reason for that most probably relies on the economic crisis, as temporary contracts enabled employers to minimize their financial risks in an unstable economic environment. Compared to the previous Employment Contracts Act (valid until July 2009), the exclusive list of reasons that gave the right to conclude a fixed-term contract was abandoned making it formally easier to conclude fixed-term contracts. However, the new act includes provisions that aim to avoid employers taking advantage of temporary contracts and the minimized financial risks coming along with them. For example, in case of cancelling a temporary contract before its agreed term, the employer has to pay the employee the wage for the period remaining till the agreed term. In case of terminating a permanent contract, the employer is only obliged to pay the average wage of one month.

The regulations valid in case of temporary contracts depend also of the type of the contract. A fixed term employment contract is regulated by Employment Contracts Act, while the contract for provision of services is regulated by the Law of Obligations Act. As the laws have different provisions regarding social guarantees, the temporary contracts may bring along different social guarantees (see also points 1.1 and 1.2 above).

The evaluation of the new Employment Contracts Act (the use of fixed-term employment contracts is also investigated) is currently undergoing and the results of the assessment will be published in spring 2013.

1.5. To what extent are temporary contracts a ‘stepping stone’ to ‘permanent’ jobs (or those with standard contracts of employment of undefined duration)? Are apprentices and trainees typically taken on by the companies or other organisations concerned on standard permanent contracts once they complete their training? Has the situation changed over the crisis period? Please summarise any relevant studies which have been carried out in your country or other evidence at the national level which exists and give the reference to them.

There is no general information or surveys about to what extent the temporary contracts are a ‘stepping stone’ to ‘permanent’ jobs.

2. Access to social benefits

The aim here is to identify any differences between the income support, or benefit entitlement, provided by the social security system to those employed in temporary jobs as opposed to those employed in permanent ones, or those with standard contracts of employment, and the way that this has changed, if at all, over the period of the crisis. Please note that the interest here is in the de facto situation of young people employed in temporary jobs and not simply any differences between those employed in temporary and permanent jobs in the formal regulations (see the Background note on this). Although a distinction is made below between the different types of benefit, they should be treated together if it is appropriate to do so. Please indicate any differences in the level of support provided as well as in the duration of entitlement and in the conditions attached to entitlement. Please also indicate any differences between occupations or the sector of activity (e.g. between the public and private sector) in which young people are employed.

2.1. Does entitlement of young people to (contributory) unemployment insurance benefits and (non-contributory) unemployment assistance (i.e. benefits, usually means-tested, which provide a minimum level of income) differ if they are employed on temporary contracts as opposed to permanent ones? If so, please indicate briefly the differences in eligibility conditions and any differences between types of temporary contract (including those working as self-employed for a single employer). Have there been any changes over the period of the crisis?

There are no special regulations for young people concerning the access to social benefits if employed temporarily or permanently since the regulations concerning the employment contract are general and have no specifications to the labour market target groups. Young persons have the same rights as everyone else to receive unemployment insurance benefit and unemployment assistance as long as they meet the eligibility conditions. Thus, whether the person has been employed temporarily or permanently is not relevant. In Estonia, in order to receive an unemployment insurance benefit, the person must be registered as unemployed. They must have been in employment for at least one year during the previous three years period, paid unemployment insurance payments during employment and they must be involuntarily unemployed. This means that persons, who have ended their employment relationship voluntarily or by agreement with their employer, are not eligible for unemployment insurance benefit. The only restriction based on age regards the right to register as unemployed. In Estonia, persons younger than 16 and persons in their retirement age cannot register as unemployed.

Unemployment insurance benefit is 50% of the persons’ previous average remuneration during the first 100 days of unemployment and 40% after that. The duration of the benefit depends of the period, during which unemployment insurance contributions have been paid for and varies from 180 calendar days up to 360 calendar days.

The eligibilty requirements for unemployment allowance are a bit looser compared to unemployment insurance benefit. For example, the allowance is paid to persons who have ended their employment relationship voluntarily. Thus, it can be stated that unemployment allowance is paid to persons who do not qualify for the unemployment insurance benefit, but who actively seek for work, who have worked or finished their studies and whose income is lower than the allowance. The allowance is €101.68 per month from 1 January 2013 and is paid for a maximum period of 270 days.

Overall, this means that the unemployment insurance benefit and unemployment assistance do not depend on the type of contract, as the unemployment insurance contributions are paid in the case of temporary and permanent contracts. In regards of the legislation, the self-employed do not receive income from employment, are therefore not insured and thus are not eligible for the unemployment insurance benefit.

2.2. Does entitlement of young people to sickness benefits and maternity benefits differ if they are employed on temporary contracts as opposed to permanent ones? If so, please indicate briefly the differences in eligibility conditions and any differences between types of temporary contract (including those working as self-employed for a single employer). Have there been any changes over the period of the crisis?

In Estonia the entitlement to sickness benefit and maternity benefit do not depend of the fact whether the contract is fixed-term or permanent. There can be differences in entitlement for sickness and maternity benefits, in case the employee has a type of contract for provision of services. The health insurance is provided for persons’ with employment contract that is valid for at least for one month. In case of contract of services the contract must be valid for over three months. The sickness and maternity benefits are provided by Estonian Health Insurance Fund (EHIF). In Estonia, health insurance is enabled to all persons under the age of 19 and students, who are permanent residents of Estonia. Thus young people who are studying are usually insured by the public health insurance. The benefit for temporary incapacity for work is paid on the basis of a certificate of incapacity for work for a person who is insured through an employer or as a self-employed person. The sickness benefit paid by the EHIF is based on the social tax paid for the employee during the calendar year preceding the illness. From July 2009, the sickness benefit is paid starting from the fourth day of illness by the employer. EHIF will pay the benefit starting from the ninth day of illness. The benefit paid to the employee is 70% of the average wage of the employee (EE0912019I).

Maternity benefit in Estonia is paid by the EHIF in the amount of 100% of the average wage since the first day of exemption from work. The eligibility requirements in case of maternity benefit differ analogously to sickness benefit in case of employment contract and contract of services.

2.3. Are there any differences in the entitlement of young people to old-age pensions between those employed in temporary jobs as opposed to permanent ones? If so, please indicate what these are. Have conditions of eligibility to pensions changed over the period of the crisis (including through pension reforms introduced as part of a long-term strategy to improve the financial sustainability of the system)?

There are no differences in the entitlement of old-age pensions between young people and people in other age groups.

Since 1999 the acquisition of new pension rights is linked to the social tax paid on behalf of the person. That introduced an insurance element in the pension formula, on top of a flat component, and counting of pension insurance periods on the basis of registered social tax payments. Therefore persons employed temporarily, with gaps in their work career may simply receive lower pension.

On April 2010, the parliament approved the gradual increase of retirement age up to 65 years from 2026 to alleviate the labour shortage accompanying the decrease in the active population in the labour market (See EE1004019I).

2.4. Are there any differences in entitlement of young people to health care between those employed in temporary jobs as opposed to permanent ones? If so, please indicate what these are. Have conditions of eligibility to health care changed over the period of the crisis?

Person is eligible for health insurance for two months after the termination of permanent or temporary employment contract. Thus, the issue of whether the employment contract is temporary or permanent is not relevant. If the person is re-employed during those two months and the contract is signed at a time when the person has valid compulsory insurance cover, the insurance cover shall continue without any interruption. If the person is not employed during those two months, the person shall register her/himself as unemployed in the Estonian Unemployment Insurance F und(EUIF and the health insurance is renewed from the day the unemployed person gets the unemployment allowance or unemployment insurance benefit. In other cases the health insurance is renewed in case the unemployed person has been registered as unemployed for 31 days. See also point 2.2.

3. Regulation of temporary contracts and policies to support transitions into permanent contracts

3.1. Please describe briefly the regulations applying to the main types of temporary contract in your country. Do restrictions exist on the maximum duration of the different types of temporary contract for young workers or the number of times they can be renewed? Do these regulations differ by age (i.e. between young people and older workers) and/or by type of temporary contract (as mentioned in question 1.3), by occupation, or by sector of activity? Do special regulations exist for those completing apprenticeships or traineeships? Have the regulations changed over the period of the crisis – i.e. has there been a tendency for them to have been tightened or relaxed?

There are no regulation which would state the different types of temporary contracts for young workers.

The current legislation stipulates general rules for concluding a fixed-term employment contract. According to the Employment Contracts Act, the maximum duration for the fixed-term employment contract can be made up to 5 years. However, if an employee and an employer have more than twice consecutive occasions concluded a fixed-term employment contract for similar work or extended the fixed-term contract more than once in five years, the employment relationship shall be counted as a permanent contract from the start.

There are no regulations on national level, which would establish the rules of completing the apprenticeships or traineeships. In most cases accomplishing an apprenticeships or traineeships are requirements set by tertiary education institutions. Thus, in Estonia the apprenticeships or traineeships are mostly used from the pedagogical practice perspective. However, the requirements and experiences of the traineeships in educational institutions are different as there are no common regulations or legislation. According to a recent study “Analysis_of_teaching_practice_in_six_higher_education_institutions” conducted by Praxis Center for Policy Studies, the arrangement of pedagogical practice is not always transparent and in different education institutions the pedagogical practice works on dissimilar conditions. In most cases, the practice is not a stepping stone to a job and the young person has to find a job on their own.

EUIF has a work practice measure that aims to provide work experience and professional skills and knowledge for unemployed persons. EUIF supports work practices for unemployed through work practice agreements that are arranged through a contract between an employer and EUIF. In 2010 there were 677 persons (166 young persons aged 16-24) and in 2011, 491 persons (114 young people aged 16-24) who participated in the apprenticeship measure provided by EUIF.

The EUIF assessed the impact of the apprenticeship measure in December 2012. According to the assessment, over half of the people who participated in the apprenticeship in 2010 and 2011, worked after the termination of the apprenticeship. Although many of the participated people did not continue working for the employer who provided the work practice, the experience was a stepping stone to other employers.

3.2. Do incentives exists in your country to encourage employers to opt for standard rather than temporary contracts of employment, to convert temporary contracts into permanent ones or to make it easier for employees to move from temporary to permanent contracts? If so, please briefly describe the form that these incentives take. Do they apply equally to young people as well as to older workers? Are any incentives in place to encourage employers to take on young people who have completed an apprenticeship or traineeship on permanent contracts? Have there been any changes to incentives over the period of the crisis? Are any such changes being proposed or being actively discussed at present in your country?

With the new Employment Contracts Act, the conditions for temporary employment contracts were tightened. See also the point 1.2, 1.4 and 3.1 above. This can be counted as one incentive to encourage employers to opt for standard employment contracts. At the same time, the opportunities to conclude fixed-term contracts for provision of services have remained the same.

In addition to this, one incentive, which indirectly encourages employers to opt for standard rather than temporary contracts of employment is a wage subsidy measure for newly created jobs, initiated by EUIF. The aim of the wage subsidy is to help long-term unemployed persons to find a stable job and motivate employers to hire them. The target group of the measure are unemployed people aged 16 to 24, who have been unemployed for at least six consecutive months and unemployed people aged over 25, who have been registered as unemployed for at least 12 consecutive months. In case of permanent contract, the duration of wage subsidy is six months. In case of temporary contract, the wage subsidy is paid only if the duration of the contract is minimum six months. Also the subsidy is paid for wages for half of the duration of the fixed-term employment contract (but with a maximum of six months).

There are no proposals or initiatives discussed at present in Estonia, in order to implement incentives to encourage employers to opt for standard rather than temporary contracts of employment, or to convert temporary contracts into permanent ones. Likewise there has been no discussion about making employees to move from temporary to permanent contracts easier.

3.3. Is the employment of young people on temporary contracts an important issue of concern for the social partners? Are there strong differences in attitudes and policies between employers and trade unions towards the use of temporary contracts? Have any initiatives been taken by the social partners, either jointly or separately, to encourage the use of permanent rather than temporary contracts? Have any specific initiatives been taken in respect of young people completing apprenticeships or traineeships over the types of job they are offered when their temporary position comes to an end?

According to the Statistics Estonia Work Life Survey (2009), there are 6.7% of employees, who work by temporary or fixed-term contract or by oral contract or agreement. As the fixed-term contracts are not widely used, the discussion about people working on temporary contracts is not a subject discussed based on different target groups.

Still, the issue of fixed term contracts has had some attention from the social partners. First, employers disapproved the stricter regulation for temporary employment contracts that was implemented from 1 July 2009 with the new Employment Contracts Act, arguing that less flexibility will hamper their opportunities to react in difficult financial situations. In 2012, trade unions opposed an amendment of Employment Contracts Act initiated by the government that enables employers to extend fixed-term contracts or conclude them again more easily in the case of a temporary agency work relationship. Despite trade unions opposition, the amendment was put into force in 20 February 2012.

Temporary employees as a share of total employees aged 15-24, 2004-2011

% total employees

% point change

2004

2007

2009

2011

2004-2007

2007-2009

2009-2011

2007-2011

EU27

37.6

41.3

40.4

42.5

3.7

-0.9

2.1

1.2

BE

28.6

31.6

33.2

34.3

3.0

1.6

1.1

2.7

BG

15.3

10.3

9.3

8.3

-5.0

-1.0

-1.0

-2.0

CZ

18.0

17.4

18.7

22.3

-0.6

1.3

3.6

4.9

DK

26.9

22.5

22.8

22.1

-4.4

0.3

-0.7

-0.4

DE

55.5

57.4

57.3

56.0

1.9

-0.1

-1.3

-1.4

EE

:

:

:

13.8

IE

11.2

20.5

25.0

34.2

9.3

4.5

9.2

13.7

EL

26.3

27.0

28.4

30.1

0.7

1.4

1.7

3.1

ES

64.8

62.8

55.9

61.4

-2.0

-6.9

5.5

-1.4

FR

46.7

53.5

52.4

55.1

6.8

-1.1

2.7

1.6

IT

34.4

42.3

44.4

49.9

7.9

2.1

5.5

7.6

CY

16.1

23.3

18.4

17.2

7.2

-4.9

-1.2

-6.1

LV

17.3

9.3

9.3

10.7

-8.0

0.0

1.4

1.4

LT

13.8

9.8

5.0

9.1

-4.0

-4.8

4.1

-0.7

LU

24.1

34.1

39.3

34.5

10.0

5.2

-4.8

0.4

HU

15.1

19.1

21.4

22.9

4.0

2.3

1.5

3.8

MT

9.2

11.0

11.3

17.7

1.8

0.3

6.4

6.7

NL

37.9

45.1

46.5

47.7

7.2

1.4

1.2

2.6

AT

32.4

34.9

35.6

37.2

2.5

0.7

1.6

2.3

PL

60.6

65.7

62.0

65.6

5.1

-3.7

3.6

-0.1

PT

47.4

52.6

53.5

57.2

5.2

0.9

3.7

4.6

RO

6.6

4.6

3.7

5.8

-2.0

-0.9

2.1

1.2

SI

63.1

68.3

66.6

74.5

5.2

-1.7

7.9

6.2

SK

9.9

13.7

12.5

18.6

3.8

-1.2

6.1

4.9

FI

49.8

42.4

39.0

43.4

-7.4

-3.4

4.4

1.0

SE

53.1

57.1

53.4

57.3

4.0

-3.7

3.9

0.2

UK

11.0

13.3

11.9

13.5

2.3

-1.4

1.6

0.2

NO

31.2

28.0

25.7

24.3

-3.2

-2.3

-1.4

-3.7

Source: Eurostat, Labour Force Survey

Temporary employees as a share of total employees aged 25-29, 2004-2011